The approach, called neuromodulation, has been a godsend for Linda Landy, who was a 42-year-old runner when a foot surgery went awry in 2008. She was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome, a condition dubbed the suicide disease by doctors: The pain is so unrelenting that many people take their own lives.

Last November, Landy underwent surgery to get an Abbott Laboratories device that stimulates the dorsal root ganglion, a spot in the spine that was the pain conduit for her damaged nerves. A year after getting her implant, called DRG, she's cut back drastically on pain pills.

"The DRG doesn't take the pain completely away, but it changes it into something I can live with," said Landy, a mother of three in Fort Worth, Texas. She's now now able to walk again and travel by plane without using a wheelchair. "It sounds minor, but it's really huge."